Book reviews

interposes perception, value, inter- pretation and choice, then one sees there may be no determining 'cause' - though there may be prevailing pat- terns. There was a subtle gloss in the 1960s and 1970s from prevailing evi- dence into a normative message - that what is confirmed by general practice is best practice. It has taken an exter- nal shock, such as Japanese compet- ition, to stimulate a reassessment, evident in the current fashion for corporate culture and stories of corpo- rate heroes. One suspects that future historians will ask how so many indus- tries and companies could be so collec- tively off beam. In this respect, com- parative awareness of alternative con- temporary practice can be usefully complemented by historical aware- ness. Ironically, the early history of A T & T shows that there was no appropriate current best practice or prevailing wisdom to draw on, that its managers ' achievements s temmed from their capacity to be flexible, open-minded and experimental.

Blessed state

Nevertheless, with hindsight AT&T appears to have been in a blessed state for which many executives would give their eyeteeth or pension entitle- ments: an initial degree of strong patent protection, in an enormously expanding market pushing towards supply monopoly. But these volumes show that events might have fallen otherwise. The early Bell System had to police its patents for violations, m on i to r compe t ing technologies , rapidly develop its own, manage (through chronic capital shortage) re- lations with licensees; and in a short period transform its strategy (with implications for structure, finance, re- search, manufacture and operations) from licensing to integration and con- trol. Western Union'~ competitive threat might easily have turned out otherwise. Not only unsatisfied de- mand (from customers via affiliates), but the threat of competition drove AT&T towards policies of growth, innovation and ownership. The spec- trum from monopoly to competition provides no analytic apparatus cap- able of evaluating the alternatives and

achievements within a monopoly. Thus there are lessons from these histories for evaluating the perform- ance and achievements of other such enterprises, whether publicly owned, or regulated.

But just as regulators can become the captives of the regulated, so, in getting close to a subject, a historian or researcher can become both capti- vated and captured. Has this hap- pened here? It has happened only in the sense that these are histories (not hagiographies) of management from the inside, and as such are concerned with perspectives from the inside. There is sufficient presentation of evidence and argument for the reader to make his or her own assessment of bias. There are occasional references to contemporary views of AT&T as a member of the set of predatory mon- opolists, but there is little here on dissatisfied customers, on aggrieved competitors, on labour relations, on class and privilege, or on the visual pollution or danger produced by net- works of wires in city streets. Such matters lie in the province of a wider contemporary social and business his- tory (perhaps another Johns Hopkins/ AT&T volume?). These histories sug- gest that the managers of this early

period could ill afford concern along these lines. As Smith puts it, ' the underlying premise, though rarely ar- ticulated, was that competition re- mained a persistent threat to the business' (p 99). Amen to the virtues of competition and diversity.

Finally, current concern with corp- orate culture has elevated the impor- tance of stories ( 'myths') in reinforc- ing and transmitting values, in helping to make human (rather than rational) sense of where corporations have come from and are going. From this perspective one hopes that the story of Bell"s creation proves inspirational. As with Augustus" achievements, if you look for their monument, look about you. These histories do justice to the early days of AT&T. How would our contemporary telecom- munications managers wish their his- tory to be written?

Nick Woodward Templeton College The Oxford Centre

for Management Studies Kennington Oxford, UK

These three books are the first in a series on the formation and development of AT&T.

Renaissance for Europe's IT industries SUNRISE EUROPE

The D y n a m i c s of I n fo rma t i on Technology

by lan Mackintosh

Basil Blackwell, Oxford, UK, 1986, 288 pp, £ 17. 50

Dr Ian Mackintosh has produced a campaign book for the renaissance of Europe ' s partially, if not totally, eclipsed information technology (IT) industries. His hypothesis is that, without an internationally competitive IT industry, Europe is doomed to a vicious cycle of economic decline. The social, political and economic goals cherished in post-war Europe will

become no more than fragments of a broken dream.

If a way can be found of creating, by 2005, an additional EEC market for electronic goods of about $350 bn per annum and the concomitant exchequer burden of $15 bn per annum of renaissance investment for 20 years can be afforded, the Community electronics industry will become on a par with the world's best, and Europe's econo- mic prosperity in the twenty-first century will have been assured (p 167). The book is organized into three sections, each containing four chap- ters. The first part, 'Seeds and weak beginnings', chronicles the growth of the information technology revolution and the development paths of, respec- tively, the USA, Japan and Europe. The second part, 'Economics and cal- culators' , attempts to quantify the gap which exists between Europe, the

360 T E L E C O M M U N I C A T I O N S POLICY December 1986

U S A and Japan and how this deficien- cy will diverge through to the year 20115. This second part goes on to identify what the author refers to as the "renaissance costs', that is the necessary investments to revitalize Europe ' s IT industry. The third part, "Trying the measures ' , initially dismis- ses policy options based on inward investment and transoceanic linkages, but goes on to suggest a renaissance policy (the Eurogrid) , its implications and how' it might be implemented through project ~Theseus, Phedre et la famille ' .

F i v e - m i n u t e t o u r

The book, however , is an unfortunate , and to some extent unsuccessful mer- ger of what might be two useful books: one describing and analysing the de- mise of Europe ' s IT industries, the second articulating a radical policy for the economic regenerat ion of Europe . The at tempt to discuss why US and J a p a n e s e c o m p a n i e s h a v e o u t - per formed European companies is in- adequate , superficial and arbitrary. Substantial research into this area has been under taken to which more thor- ough reference surely ought to have been made. These early chapters cre- ate the feeling of having the Renaiss- ance explained by a f ive-minute tour of the Uffizi Galleries - it is im- pressionistic (sic), and raises more questions than it answers. These early chapters, however , yield some in- teresting commentary; for example the abject failure of managements and politicians - and not employees or unions - to understand and grapple with the changes occurring in the industry• The observat ions on the European Communi ty are colourful, • . , conceived in a German haystack,

born in a French vineyard, and suck- led on Italian olive oil' (p 73), but perhaps conceal much of the reality and complex i t i e s assoc ia ted with supra-national structures.

The at tempts at quantifying the ' renaissance costs" beg many ques- tions. The author 's answers to his sums may be of the right magnitude but the methodology and its reliance on past per formance of various indica- tors is so open to quest ion (the pover-

ty of historicism is more than relevant to an industry in turmoil) that it will deflect from the debate , rather than help to focus it.

It is not until Chapter ~ that the author begins to advocate his initiative for a pan-European solution, and it is not until Chapter 10 that a glimpse of the renaissance sector - te lecom- munications - is given. The renaiss- ance project , Eurogrid, is discussed in some detail in Chapter 11, although it is hard to see what Eurogrid is if it is not, as the author claims. Integrated Services Digital Ne twork ( ISDN). Eurogrid might have more channels than some current proposals for ISDN in European states but ISDN is, in fact, more of a concept than a precise definition of a network•

Throughout the book the technol- ogist 's paradigm is ever-present , the acceptance of the view that through technology per se Europe ' s IT indus- tries' problems will be solved. It is, however , abundantly clear that other dimensions exist which are of equal, if not greater, importance. While ack- nowledging that the European Com- munity is "Byzantine" in its workings and int ra-European policy debate is often reduced to the level of the lowest common denominator , the au- thor avoids the implications of these factors for his renaissance policy, it is the failure to discuss in depth how to implement a pan-European telecom- munications policy that can accommo- date both the Bundespost and British

Publications Communications Law and Poficv in the People's Republic of China: Experience & Reflections (International Law Institute, 1331} Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washing- ton, DC 2111136, USA, 1985, 51 pp)

The Communication,s Users' Yearbook (NCC/Manor House Press, 4114-4116 Hollo- way Road, London N7 6QA, UK, 1986, 496 pp)

Development as Communication: a Per- spective on India by Uma Narula and W. Barnett Pearce (Southern Illinois Universi- ty Press, Carbondale, IL, USA, 1986, 231 pp, $19.95) Examines one facet of the efforts being made by India to assume its new place in

Book reviews Puhlications

Telecom which is the Achilles" heel of the p roposed renaissance project . Further , the absence of such a discus- sion makes the effort dew)ted to the early parts of the book a lost oppor- tunity.

While the advantages of Eurogrid may beneficially impact upon the whole nature of economic relations within Europe and its trading part- ners, it is blindly assumed that the best channel for these bcnefits is the IT sector. The costs and benefits of an information ecofloll3y n e e d to be care-

fully assessed. The skilful use of Japanese and US technology in new service-based activities, as well as in the regenerat ion of manufacturing in- dustries, may be politically more astute than embarking on the renaiss- ance project supported by Dr tan Mackintosh. These issues need to be more fully discussed: the answers are not at all obvious.

Eurogrid may in fact be the solution to many of Europe ' s pressing prob- lems but the author weakens his argu- ments by paying too much attention to the past and insufficient to the non- technical problems which confront his renaissance policy. The book's mes- sage, however , remains one that should not be ignored.

Howard Williams Centre for Urban and Regional

Development Studies (CURDS) University of Newcastle

Newcastle, UK

the international order. Thc authors en- vision development as a form of com- munication and expand lhc role of com- munication from the technology of satel- lites or the economics of mass media to a way of thinking about how people involved in a project interact with e;*ch other.

European Industrial Policy edited by Graham Hall (Croom Helm, London, 1986, 315 pp, £19.95)

From Telecommunications to Electronic Services: a Global Spectrum of Definition~, Boundary Lines" attd Structures by Robert R. Bruce, Jcffrey P. Cunard and Mark D. Director (Report of the Study on Telecom- munications Structures, published on be-

TELECOMMUNICATIONS POLICY December 1986 361